Rush The Court

RTC will be providing coverage of the NCAA Tournament from start to finish. Brad Jenkins (@bradjenk) is in Atlanta for the South Regional this weekend.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. The South Region delivers again. Kentucky was a heavy favorite in Atlanta and had heavy crowd support throughout the game, but the Wildcats were in trouble most of the way tonight. Kansas State exploded for an early 13-1 lead and took a four-point lead into the break. Then when it looked like Kentucky would blow past them midway through the second half, Kansas State spurted back ahead by nine. But to Kentucky’s credit, John Calipari’s youngsters kept fighting and clawed their way back yet again. The final push led to a riveting game-ending few minutes, with the lead going back and forth between Wildcats. With under 20 seconds to go and the score tied, Barry Brown made a clutch driving layup to put Kansas State ahead by three, but the game wasn’t decided until Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s three clanged off the back iron at the buzzer. That leaves us with the most improbable Elite Eight matchup we could ever imagine, which is par for the course in this year’s South Region.  
2. Kansas State is a really good defensive team. It’s not a coincidence that every team that plays the Wildcats struggles on the offensive end of the floor. Kentucky came into tonight’s contest averaging 86.5 points per game in the NCAA Tournament, but the Wildcats couldn’t crack the 60-point mark against Bruce Weber‘s defense. For the game, Kentucky shot just 38.1 percent from the floor and went 3-of-12 from three-point land. The Wildcats in purple were giving up almost four inches per man against Kentucky, however, and it took its toll in the form of foul trouble. Three Kansas State players fouled out and two others finished with four violations, but the tough-minded Big 12 Wildcats hung on to win.
3. Kentucky’s youth finally caught up with them. Against a physically inferior squad, the Wildcats wearing white made too many mistakes to beat a Kansas State bunch intent on not giving in. In the key moments down the stretch of this game, Kentucky may have felt the pressure of being the favorite — missing free throws (23-of-37 in the game), committing ball-handling mistakes (15 turnovers) and taking a number of questionable shots. Kentucky had been playing great over the last month of the season, but they looked young in the late parts of tonight’s game — failing to get a decent look on either of its last two possessions.

Player of the Game. Xavier Sneed, Kansas State. Sneed led the way with 22 points and nine rebounds despite fighting foul trouble for much of the night. He was particularly effective from deep, sinking more than half of his team’s threes by going 5-of-8 from behind the arc. 

Quotable.

• “It just shows our character, the resilience of the guys.” – Kansas State coach Bruce Weber’s opening comments at the postgame press conference.
• “Xavier [Sneed] stepped up and was special. We needed somebody to be special.” – Weber on the play of Xavier Sneed.
• “It was a great energy boost for the entire game.” – Sneed, on the impact of his team’s fast start to the game.
• “My hat’s off to them. They shot 35 percent and won a basketball game.” – Kentucky coach John Calipari, on Kansas State’s effort.

Sights and Sounds. As expected, Big Blue Nation has turned the city into “Catlanta.” Kentucky fans dominated the arena in numbers and in sound volume, but it will be a different kind of crowd on Saturday at Phillips Arena.

What’s Next. Kansas State advances to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010 and will be gunning for its first Final Four appearance in over 50 years when the Wildcats face #11 Loyola-Chicago on Saturday night for the South Regional championship. Kentucky finishes its season at 26-11, failing to capitalize on what looked like a clear path to the Final Four when this regional lineup was set following upsets of the South’s top four seeds.